The Very Last of the Cybernauts?
by Mucus Membrane
Summary: An idea as to the origin of the Cybernauts - and why Torchwood would be interested in them. Rated K  for mild flirtation!


THE VERY LAST OF THE CYBERNAUTS?

Disclaimer: I don't own The Avengers, or the New Avengers, or Torchwood, or Doctor Who!

Cybernauts! It was one of the few words that could send a shiver down John Steed's spine.

The remote-controlled robots were the work of Professor Armstrong, who had invented them back in the 1960's while Steed was working with Mrs. Peel (what a team we made, he thought nostalgically). The brilliant but insane scientist had eventually been defeated, and been killed by his own creations.

A few years later, Armstrong's brother had made an attempt to start using the Cybernauts, but again been defeated.

And now – now that Steed was working with Gambit and Purdey – the Cybernauts had raised their terrible silver heads once again. A colleague of Steed's by the name of Felix Kane had been revealed as a double agent, and supposedly got himself killed in a car crash while trying to escape. However, though crippled and horribly burned, he had survived and sworn revenge on Steed. He had located a former henchman of Professor Armstrong and used him to find, and reactivate, the remaining Cybernauts.

Kane had tried to use the Cybernauts to extract revenge on Steed and his colleagues – and, in a bizarre further development of Armstrong's work, had a cybernetic arm and two cybernetic legs added to his own body to replace the limbs he had lost.

But Kane, like those who had tried before him, had been defeated. He had been arrested – and then sent to an asylum as his mind sank into complete insanity. His henchmen were dead, and Purdey had been sent to keep an eye on his headquarters while the Cybernauts were taken away and destroyed.

And that, Steed thought with relief, should be the final end of the Cybernauts. After a few moments, he decided this called for a glass of champagne. And then he began the even more pleasant exercise of deciding whom to share it with….

Kane's lair was a museum of hatred. Purdey wandered through the basement of the madman's house in wide-eyed amazement. Here was the twisted wreckage of the car in which Kane had his near-fatal accident; on the walls were blown-up photographs of Steed, Gambit and Purdey herself; on a table, smaller photos of the trio obviously taken by someone who had been hired to spy on them.

But, after a few moments, Purdey realized what was missing: the Cybernauts themselves. Kane was supposed to have several working Cybernauts in his possession, and the device that controlled them. But there was no sign of them…

"Someone's got here before us," she thought. And even as that thought crossed her mind, there was a sound behind her.

She whirled and went into a defensive crouch, arms raised to deliver a karate chop.

"Quick reflexes!" said Captain Jack Harkness.

Purdey saw a handsome man, apparently in his early or mid thirties, with tousled black hair, dressed in a military-style greatcoat. He had a broad, rather cheeky smile that was aimed right at her.

Purdey was impressed but tried not to show it. She was working, after all. She straightened up and said coolly, "And you are?"

The smile got wider, and the man took a step closer. "Captain Jack Harkness – Torchwood."

Purdey raised her eyebrows. "Torchwood?"

"You've heard of us?"

"Well, I've heard rumours," replied Purdey. "Unsubstantiated stuff. I thought Torchwood was – well, just a myth, actually. A super-secret organization that's supposed to go back to the days of Queen Victoria? I mean, come on…"

"Oh, but it's real," said Harkness. His gaze became more intense and disconcerting, and Purdey realized, without being told, that this man could probably be very dangerous. "We're beyond the government, outside the law. And…. Well, if you're looking for Cybernauts…"

"I am, actually."

"Torchwood has already removed them. We're taking over from here. You can go home, sweetheart." The man gave her his hundred-watt grin again. "Unless you want to go out for a drink…."

"Excuse me!" Purdey blustered. "You can't just take over the case like that! We have jurisdiction here! My superior, John Steed, has…."

"Yes, I know John Steed," said Harkness. "Good man – one of the best, in fact. I've got a lot of respect for that man. But Tochwood has jurisdiction here. This falls under our purview."

"And what is your 'purview', exactly?" asked Purdey in her iciest tone, which could kill an ex-boyfriend at thirty paces. "Oh, and how do I know that you even work for Torchwood, whether or not it exists? Do you have any identification on you?"

"I'd be glad to show you my… credentials…" Harkness said with his cheekiest grin yet, and Purdey couldn't help smiling. "But Torchwood is a secret organization, you know, and there's not much point belonging to a secret organization if you carry around documents that advertise that fact!"

"Yes, I can see your point," said Purdey. "But…. Firstly, you sound American."

"American father – from Boston."

"Secondly, I thought Torchwood was based in Cardiff."

"Yes, and I'm usually based there myself," replied Harkness. "I'm running the London branch office at the moment while one of the guys is off sick. Look, are you sure you don't want to go out for…."

"Not just yet!" Purdey snapped. "Business first! What is Torchwood's interest in the Cybernauts? Why have you taken them?"

Another dazzling grin. "I didn't catch your name…"

"Purdey," she replied.

Harkness turned and walked over to one of the alcoves in which Kane had stored his Cybernauts. "Well, Purdey," he said, "that goes back to the question you asked earlier – about Torchwood's purview. Do you know why Torchwood was founded?"

"Not just to allow you to lurk in basements and chat up women," Purdey responded tartly.

The man laughed and turned back towards her. "No, that's just one of the side benefits…. But really, Torchwood was founded to defend Britain from…."

"Yes?"

"From alien invasion and alien technology. And I mean alien in the sense of extraterrestrial."

Purdey laughed out loud. "Extraterrestrial? You're out of your mind! You're bloomin' insane! That is just ridiculous!"

"Is it?" Harkness came right up to Purdey and grasped her elbows. He looked intently into her eyes and she had to admit she rather enjoyed it. "How do you think Armstrong invented such advanced robots back in the 1960's? Nobody else had built anything like that. And suddenly Professor Armstrong appears with his Cybernauts, more advanced than anything anyone had even dreamed of building up to that point! Come on and think about it! He got his ideas from somewhere else!"

Purdey raised her eyebrows, torn between her attraction to the Captain and her total disbelief in what he was saying. "Ideas from somewhere else?" she repeated.

Harkness nodded. "Have you ever heard of…. Cybermen?" he asked.

"Cyber-MEN? No."

"They're aliens, from a planet called Mondas. They've tried several times to conquer Earth, but they were defeated by UNIT."

"Another organization we have bad relations with," sniffed Purdey.

"Tell me about it! Anyway, the Cybermen were once human-like creatures but they have replaced most of their body parts with metal and plastic."

"Doesn't sound like much fun," Purdey said with a grin. She was definitely warming to this man.

Harkness grinned back, but then became serious again. "The Cybermen are really just living brains in robotic bodies. The way I see it, Professor Armstrong must have got a Cyberman body from UNIT somehow – bribed someone to smuggle it out, probably. And that became the basis of his Cybernauts. A Cybernaut is really just a simplified Cyberman without the brain."

Purdey sighed, turned away from Harkness and walked a few steps away from him, thinking. "All right – supposing I believe you... "

"That's better!" said Harkness.

"I suppose your Torchwood team has already taken away the Cybernauts?"

"Yes - they're going back to the Torchwood Hub in Cardiff. We have a vault there full of – well, you wouldn't believe some of the things we've got there."

Purdey nodded slowly. "Well, I'll have to inform my superior, Mr. Steed, but I suppose I'll have to accept Torchwood's jurisdiction in this matter."

Harkness nodded eagerly.

"Which leaves just one more question," she added.

"Dinner?"

"Thought you'd never ask!"

The next day, Purdey gave John Steed a somewhat edited (in fact severely edited!) account of her meeting with Captain Jack Harkness of Torchwood.

Steede's only comment was, "Harkness? That's funny – I knew a Captain Jack Harkness, years ago – just after the War. And he was an American, too. But it couldn't be the same man."


End file.
